Love is Blind
by Nympha Fluminis
Summary: Maximum Martinez isn't too upset about having to move from California to Texas. She never really had many friends there anyways. But, when she meets a blind boy at her new school, she realizes that the move was the best thing to ever happen to her. Miggy. High school AU. No wings ;P
1. Chapter 1

"I call the upstairs room!" I yelled as I hopped out of my step-dad's truck. We'd just moved from California to Texas and, while I wasn't necessarily happy about it, I wasn't overly upset. My mom had just got an amazing new job at a veterinarian practice here in Dallas and I was happy for her. It was what she loved to do and it paid really good money. Plus, living in Texas as opposed to Cali meant lower housing costs.

Thus, our frickin' awesome new house! Which, I'd just called the best room in!

"No fair!" Ella, my younger sister by a year, yelled. "I wanted that room! Why should I have to leave all my friends behind and still get the crappy room?!"

Where most people would have replied with the sound, logical argument that they were leaving all their friends behind, too, I couldn't. The other reason I wasn't overly upset about moving was that I didn't really have anything in California to upset about leaving. See, I'm not the, um, friendliest of people and so I, _shocker_, don't tend to make friends easily.

"Ella, dear," my mom said, "please try to look at the bright sides. You can make _new _friends."

"I don't want new friends!"

At that, I couldn't resist. I burst into song. I couldn't help it. Ella was asking for it!

"_Make new friends,_

_but keep the old..."_

"Max! Stop that!" Ella screeched. Literally, screeched. I wanted to laugh, but was determind to finsih my song.

"_One is silver _

_And the other's gold."_

"Moo-om!" Ella yelled, making the word two syllables.

"_A circle is round,_

_it has no end. _

_That's how long, _

_I will be your friend."_

At that point, Ella looked ready to murder me and my mom was giving me her patented Maximum-Ride-Stop-That-Now-Or-I-Will-Shave-Your-Eyebrows-Off-In-You-Sleep look. And yes, apparently you _can _say all that with just a look. I just smirked.

But, I feel I should clarify here. So far, I know it looks like Ella's an uptight, um, excuse my language, bitch and that I get off on annoying her. Ella really is quite nice, but she was upset about the move and I... well, you're right about me getting off on annoying her.

At that point, I grabbed the duffel bag I'd packed earlier to live off of until I got around to unpacking my boxes and ran upstairs. I had a good feeling about this whole moving thing

I. Hate. Moving.

You know how earlier I was saying that I didn't think I would mind moving and how it actually was a little bit fun? Yeah, that was before I had to start unpacking boxed.

This is hell. This is what people have to do when they get sent to hell. Yes, it was that bad. And I was letting everyone know how awful lugging boxes around was, especially in the Texas heat.

"Oh, please, mother, just kill me now!" I whined. "This is torture. And isn't it supposed to be fall? It's September for God's sake! It shouldn't be 106 degrees!"

"Maximum!" Jeb, my step-dad, finally snapped. I shut up, but when he turned his back I stuck my tongue out. Ella giggled.

A few minutes later a went back to loudly vocalizing my opinion on moving. It was a long night.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. BEEEEEP._

"Mrrgngggg," I groaned as I sat up in my bed in my new room, trying to remember where the hell I was. It came back to me quickly, though, and I realized it was Monday. I was starting school. A _new _school. All vestiges of tiredness left me as I jumped out of bed and hit my alarm clock until it shut-up. I was too nervous to be tired.

See, remember earlier when I mentioned I wasn't the greatest at making friends? I was going to try and fix that at my new school. That was the third reason I wanted to move. A fresh start.

I made sure to run into the bathroom and get in the shower before Ella got to, before remember that I had my own bathroom here and didn't need to worry about Ella's tendency to spend ten hours in the bathroom doing... well, I honestly don't know.

I took a scalding hot fifteen minute shower and blow dried my hair so it sat nicely on my shoulders, then pulled out a spray-can of Ella's hair-spray that I'd stolen- er, I mean _borrowed _and used it, knowing my hair's nasty little tendency to look perfect before I leave for school, then turn into a mess about half-way through the day.

I threw on a pair of jeans and a flowery cami with a black shrug over it, hoping the school wouldn't consider it against dress code. I was about to decide I was done and head downstairs to pace while I waited for an appropriate time to leave when Ella knocked on my door.

"Yeah?" I said, opening the door just a crack, a habit I'd developed in California. I never opened my door all the way and would lean against the door frame when I talked to people in what I thought was a casual way to hide the mess that room inevitably was when I was thirteen. My room is still always a mess, but I now realize that my way of hiding the mess is not casual. Still, it was a habit I'd yet to break.

Ella, of course, looked gorgeous and felt like my appearance paled in comparison. Her sleek brown hair was curled to perfect and pulled back in an intricate half-ponytail thing, her clothes seemed to compliment her body perfectly and her make up seemed to make her already amazingly beautiful features even prettier. I felt like the ugly duckling standing next to a beautiful princess. And she was younger than me!

"Max," Ella started, then began shifting her feet, looking nervous. "Um, would you please _please _let me try some make-up on you? Please?"

I opened my mouth to say, 'Nuh-uh, no_ way_. Maximum Ride does _not _wear make-up,' then changed my mind. Fresh starts and all...

"Uh, sure."

"Really?!" Ella's face lit up.

"Yeah, just don't-"

"Oh! This is exciting! You're going to look so pretty! Not, that you're not already or anything but-"

"Ella!" I yelled, shutting her up. "Chill, please. It's way too early to have that much energy."

By that point, I'd already been dragged into Ella's bathroom and pushed down to sit on the toilet seat while Ella prepared her arsenal of make-up. I was starting to regret my decision...

"Don't worry," Ella said, coming at my face with a brush of some sort. "Close your eyes." I obeyed. "I won't do anything wild."

I wished I could see was Ella was doing, but she kept swiping brushes up and down my face until I was squirming with boredom. The worst part was when she attacked my eyes... whatever it was she put on my eyes. It took forever. Finally, though, she puts on some last minute lip-gloss and let's me stand to see my reflection and... wow. I hardly recognized myself.

She was right, it was very subtle despite how long it took. Some foundation to even my skin tone, a bit of blush, eyeliner that wasn't too heavy and some mascara. It looked... really frickin' good. I smiled.

"Here," Ella said, handing me a tube of lip-gloss. "Put this on throughout the day. It'll also help your lips from getting chapped," she added as an afterthought.

I pulled out my phone and looked at the time.

"Oh, shit, El, we're gonna be late!"

"No we won't," Ella said casually, then walked off to grab her backpack. I stared confused at her back as she walked away, wondering if she had any sense of time at all, then decided that this must be why she's late to everything. I shook myself out of my thoughts, though, and grabbed my backpack and ran downstairs, too.

"Mo-oom," Ella was saying when I walked into the kitchen. "Can you please give us a ride? I don't want to be all sweaty at school today." She looked like she was about to turn on the water-works and I found myself grinning evily at Ella's crafty-ness.

"Of course, sweetie," Mom said. "Max? Are you ready?"

"Yep," I said, even though I could feel butterflies getting ready to pop out of my chest.

"Oh," Mom said when she looked at me. "You look beautiful, Max." She sniffed, looking like she was holding back tears.

"Mo-ooom," I whined, using Ella's patented two-syllable "Mom."

"Let a mother get emotional at the sight of her beautiful daughter! I can cry if I want to!"

"Yes, ma'am!" I said, giving her a mock salute. She rolled her eyes, then drove Ella and I up to the high school.

When we pulled up, Ella was rocketed out of the car before we were fully stopped just yelling, "Bye, mom!" over her shoulder as she left. You would never guess the night before she had been dreading this very moment. I took longer to get out of the car. Once I did and my mom had drove off, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath for courage and took one giant step... and tripped. Right into someone.

Whoever I had fallen into caught me, thank God, it would have been awful if I'd knocked us to the ground, but it was still mortifying.

"Oh my God," I said, feeling my cheeks turn bright red. "I'm so sorry-"

The guy just started to laugh. Hard. Like, almost fall over, slapping your knee hard. I was going to be indignantly annoyed with him, then I got a good look at him. He was hot. Too hot to be mad at over a little laugh.

He was over six feet tall, with perfectly styled Strawberry-blonde hair and an amazing face. He was wearing sun-glasses so I couldn't see his eyes, but I was sure they were as beautiful as the rest of him.

He was still laughing, though, and I felt some of my anger come back. _Was he seriously laughing at me? Jesus Christ... just goes to show, hot guys are assholes._

"Look," I said harshly, "just because I tripped and made a little bit of an idiot out of myself doesn't give you the right to make fun of me like some-!"

He cut my off mid-sentence.

"Woah, there," he said, like I was some horse. "No need to get mad! Last I checked, _you _fell into _me_. Besides, it was _funny_. I wasn't making fun of you or nothin'."

"Anything," I corrected.

"Fine. I was not making fun of you or anything."

"Hmph."

Hot-Guy smiled, an absolutely dazzling smile I must say. It blinded me for a second.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Iggy!"

"Iggy?" I asked. "What kind of name is Iggy?"

"I tend to be a bit of a, ah, pyro, if you will. It's short for Ignite. What's your name?"

"Maximum," I said. "But I go by-"

"Wait, wait, wait," he said, that alluring, mischievous grin back in place. "Your name is Maximum and you were making fun of _Iggy_?"

"At least Maximum is a word! And I was just saying I go by Max!"

"Okay, Max!" Iggy said, holding his hands up in a display of surrender. "You win. Are you new?"

"Yep," I said, getting a of whiplash from the immediate subject change, but determined to go along with it. "This is my first day."

"Ooh!" Iggy said, his face lighting up in a childlike excitement. "Ooh! Can I show you around? Pleeaaasssee? I'll be your best friend! Ever!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay," I said, catching on to Iggy's strange ways fairly quickly.

"Yes!" he yelled, and pumped his fist into the air. "What's your first class?"

"Um... Chemistry with Mr. Zatkos. Room-"

"203. Yep. I can get you there. We have the same First Period."

"Cool," I said, excited to have a friend... kind of. I honestly didn't know _what _to count Iggy as. I went from hating him to being annoyed with him to wanting to be his friend in a matter of seconds.

"Come, my lady," he said, lowering his voice and using a formal tone. He offered his arm to me and laughed before taking it. In his other hand, the left one, he grabbed a red and white striped cane with a cloth handle on the top. I looked at it for a moment, trying to decide if it was another of Iggy's strange little quirks, or something else... then, I noticed him swinging it in front of him and it all made sense. That, plus the sun glasses he was wearing made me feel like an idiot for not noticing.

"You're blind!" I blurted out, then blushed in embarrassment. He just laughed.

"Yep, and doesn't that just make you feel amazing about yourself. First, you almost ruthlessly tackled the defenseless blind kid and now said blind kid has to lead you to your classes."

Now, how is someone supposed to respond to that? The answer, you stumble awkwardly until the aforementioned blind kid starts laughing at you and you want to punch him, but you can't. Because he's blind and how exactly do you explain to someone later that, yes, you did punch the blind kid, but you had a good reason. He was laughing at you for tackling him earlier. Yeah... it was quite awkward on my side. I got the idea that Iggy was enjoying my awkwardness. Bastard.

Iggy was slightly swinging his little striped stick along the floors, but it seemed to be an absent-minded habit, like he didn't _really _need the stick. A second later, though, he got this really evil little smile on his face and, just as a kid with dark hair was passing us, whacked the kid with the stick.

"Damn it, Iggy!" the dark haired kid yelled. "How do you _do _that?"

"I got skillz," he said. Now, I know I spelled 'skills' wrong, I'm not stupid, but it would impossible to imagine the word that Iggy had just said _not _being spelled with a 'Z.'

"Whatever," dark-hair said, then turned to me. "Are you new? I'm Fang."

_Fang? _I thought. _Does everyone have a weird name here?_

"I'm Max, and, yes, I'm new."

"Cool," he said, then stopped talking at all. Iggy, however did not. In fact, he didn't stop speaking for one moment and I lost track of what he was he saying until he said:

"Um... hm, well, I seem to have got us lost."

Fang raised an eyebrow at me. "You took directions from Iggy?"

"Well, how was I supposed to know he'd get us lost? Besides," I snapped, "shouldn't _you _know where we're going?"

"Well, yeah, I do," he said. "I wasn't exactly sure where we were going, though, given that I wasn't informed."

"Chemistry," Iggy said happily.

"Oh," Fang said. "Yeah, we're way off."

"How far is 'way off?'" I asked suspiciously.

"Other side of the school."

"Damn it!" Iggy yelled. "I thought I had it that time... well, we'll have an excuse for being late."

The warning bell went off and Fang cursed.

"Shit, um, I need to get to class before I'm late. Iggy you're right outside room 256. Max, just straight down this hallway and turn right at the end of it, then left down a little side hallway." And with that, Fang left.

"Hmph," Iggy grunted indignantly. "I don't know why he doesn't trust that _I _can get us there." He had the most adorable pout on his face.

"Well, it could be because you got us lost..."

"Whatever," Iggy said, as we walked quickly to class. The hallways were starting to get empty. "Use logic. I don't care."

"Sure you don't."

We bickered back and forth until we finally made it to our chemistry class. I was amazed at how easy it was to talk to Iggy. I'd never been able to speak to anyone like that before. It seemed like the start to an amazing year.

**So, I know the last thing I need is another WIP to start writing, but I've had some pretty bad writer's block and I really wanted to try writing a "The Flock goes to high school" pieces. Plus, it was super fun to write. ;P**


	2. Chapter 2

"So," Mr. Zatkos, the chemistry teacher began when the bell for class rang. "I hear we have a new student. Maximum Ride?" Great. One of these teachers. "Would you stand up please, Mr. Ride."

"_Miss _Ride," I corrected as I stood up. I could feel my cheeks burning in embarrassment. "And I go by Max."

"Oh, well, yes, I'm sorry, Max," Zatkos stuttered. "Well, if you would, come to the front of the class."

I awkwardly stumbled to the front of the classroom, tripping over someone's backpack on the way there.

"Where are you from, Max?"

"California."

"Ooh, Cali. Where in California?"

"LA."

"Ever see anyone famous?" he asked.

"I met John Stamos... while visiting Canada," I said dryly.

"Ahem, well... tell us something about yourself Max." I inwardly groaned. The

Dreaded Question. What to say without sounding like a moron. Should I say something simple? Or clever? Or refuse to answer? Not something deeply personal, of course, but personal enough to get him to leave me alone?

"Well," I heard someone in the room say. "She's very observant."

"Thank you Mr. Griffiths, though I don't remember addressing you. Unless you're suddenly a girl named Max."

I realized Iggy was the one talking. He still had his glasses on, but I was sure if they weren't there would a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"What can I say?" Iggy said. "I'm full of surprises.

"Of course you are," Zatkos said. "Okay Max, James and I have tortured you enough to today. Sit down."

I gratefully made my to the back of the room and in my seat. "Thank you," I whispered to Iggy.

"No problem. This just means you owe me one. Buy me coke after school."

"Fine," I said exasperatedly, but was smiling anyways.

The rest of the day basically passed just like that. Boring. Intrusive... did I mention boring? But all first days are like that I guess.

I had Algebra II and lunch with Iggy, a couple classes with that Fang kid... he wasn't so bad. Actually, in some ways, he was a bit better to deal with than Iggy. He didn't have that annoying perpetual happiness thing going on, but I found myself missing Iggy anyways.

After school, we met up in the front. I called my mom to tell her I wouldn't need a ride home, and I'd be a bit late. I did promise him a soda, and I don't break a promise.

We walked to the convenient store together, joking around the whole time. I noticed as we were walking, though, Iggy using the stick thing more often, and tapping it more than seemed necessary.

"How do you use that stick-thing anyways?" I asked rudely, before realizing what I said. I covered my mouth with my hands. "I'm sorry... you don't have to-"

He just laughed. "No, it's cool," he said. "You mean my cane? Well, I don't need it much if I'm familiar with the place, but if I'm not it serves to help me feel out my surroundings, but I can also tap it on the ground to try to auditorialy locate things."

"Auditorialy?" I asked.

"Of or pertaining to hearing," he dead-panned.

"I know what it means!"

"Well, why'd you ask?" he said, wearing a smirk that I wanted to wipe off his face.

"How does tapping that thing help you find stuff? Is it like sonar detection or whatever it is bats and dolphins use?"

"Sort of... not quite that accurate, though. You know how if you close your eyes and listen to someone talking as they get closer or further away, the pitch of their voice changes? Or, maybe police sirens are a better example. They sound different as they pass you than when their approaching or going away? I can hear the way the sounds bounce back or off of things and I know that higher pitches mean close things and lower mean things are father. It's not perfect, but it works."

"Really? That's pretty impressive," I said. Iggy got uncomfortable and blushed. It was, for lack of a better word, adorable. I know, I know, Maximum Ride calling someone adorable? Say it ain't so! But there was really no other word for the expression on Iggy's face.

We walk inside the convenient store and I swear Iggy is _trying _to be obnoxious. He hits the stick loudly on the floor than the soft tapping earlier. He swings it widely, hitting stuff in his path (and not to mention a few people, but I notice he manages to very accurately avoid the children.) It's kind of funny actually, and I find myself having trouble not laughing.

"So, what'll it be?" I ask.

"Dr. Pepper?"

"Ew."

"Ew?!" he exclaims. "Ew?! How is Dr. Pepper 'Ew?' It is the perfect soda. You know, I was going to let you off the hook and pay for my drink, but nuh-uh. Now you're buying for sure."

I rolled my eyes at him and took the two bottles to the cash register and paid. We wandered around awhile just talking about nothing, but the next thing I knew, I'd managed to lead us both to my front door.

"Um, well-" I started.

"Uh-oh. Are we lost?" Iggy asked.

"No," I answered quickly. "I just managed to accidentally take us to my house."

"So...?" Iggy asked, confused.

"Well, I guess I should invite you in," I said, faking exasperation.

"I guess I should accept," he replied, mimicking my tone.

"Mom!" I yelled loudly, noticing vaguely how Iggy flinched and covered his ears. "I'm home!"

"Max, dear," my mom said, "you know yelling everything isn't necessary, right?"

"Yeah, but it's more fun," I said.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, yeah, this is Iggy," I said. "Iggy this is my mom."

Iggy put on his most blinding smile and extended his hand to my mom. "Hello Mrs. Ride." I tried not to sigh in relief. I was afraid Iggy would be that one friend that didn't have a filter and would do something like cuss in front of mother rather than charm the hell out of her.

"Hello Iggy," she said with a smile. "Are you going to stay for dinner?"

"If that's okay with you," he said.

"That's perfectly fine. Oh, and, Max, Ella seems to have made a new friend, too... she's staying for dinner also."

"Oh, okay," I said. "Come on, Iggy! I'll how you my room!" I could see my mom open her mouth to protest me taking a boy up into my room, but I interrupted her. "Nothing's gonna happen, mom! Like I would even do anything with my little sister right next door."

Mom scowled but said, "Oh, alright, whatever. Just... don't do anything."

"Yes, ma'am!" I said, saluting her then running off, guiding Iggy by the hand. We made it up the stairs, but it was kind of slow going. I didn't know how many stairs there were, so I had to guide him up each individual stair. We made it, though.

Iggy cocked his head to the side at the top and crinkled his nose up, like he smelt something bad.

"What? What is it?" I asked, surreptitiously sniffing my arms.

"Nudge."

"What? Nudge? Igs, I hope someone has told you this before, but you're really weird," I said.

"No," he said. "It's a person. A _girl_."

"And do you like this girl? Like, like-_like _her? And that was really random, Iggy."

"No, she's your sister's friend."

"I don't think you understand quite how confused I am right now..."

He sighed exasperatedly. "I can hear her. She's the friend visiting your sister. She's nice enough, but well... you'll see."

"Okay..." I said, secretly pretty impressed that he could even hear them all the way down the hallway.

"... and Justin Bieber is sooooooo hot," I heard as we passed Ella's room. "Like, that hair? And the flip-y thing it does. Ahhh! To die for! Speaking of things to die for, I love chocolate! Do like chocolate, Ella? Milk chocolate is the best, of course, but I can eat white chocolate, too. And I don't really like dark chocolate. But it's better than a lot of things like spinach and broccoli and cauliflower and guacamole... well, guacamole isn't that bad, it's just a gross word. Guac. Guac. What a gross sound-"

By then, we'd walked out of hearing range, but I was still in shock by the amount of talking one person could do.

"So, that's Nudge I take it?" I asked.

"Yep. That's her."

"How do you know her?" I asked.

"We used to live next to each other. Her and my little brother would play together, but she's a couple years older than him."

"I didn't know you had a little brother."

"Yep. His name is Gazzy."

"Gazzy? Do your parents just have a thing for odd names?"

"Well, they're not actually my parents. I was adopted."

"Really?" I asked. Iggy nodded, but started to look uncomfortable, so I decided it was time to change the subject. "So, what kind of music do you like?"

"I listen to a lot of classic rock. Led Zeppelin is my favorite. Man, they're amazing!"

"Led Zeppelin... he's the singer, right?"

Iggy facepalmed. Then did it again. And one more time, for good measure.

"You did not just ask that."

"Is he not...?"

"That's like asking 'Which one's Pink Floyd'?"

"What's wrong with that?!"

"The _band _is Led Zeppelin. It's not a person at all!"

"Oh..."

Well, that was sufficiently embarrassing.

"I'm going to have to introduce you to good music," Iggy announced. "Starting tomorrow you are getting a crash course on awesome music."

"Okay, then," I said. Iggy beamed at me. He had a wonderful smile.

**AN: **_I know, I know, it's been way too long. It will probably be a long time for the next one, too. I've had trouble writing recently, but I will try and get this out ASAP_

**Reviews: **

**AngelicDevil101: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking it so far. And, yes, I will be updating "The New Kid", I've just hit a rough patch and having trouble with the next chapter. I'll finish it ASAP, though!

**Diana 1997: **Thanks for the kind words! They mean a lot!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **_I know, I know, it's been way too long. It will probably be a long time for the next one, too. I've had trouble writing recently, but I will try and get this out ASAP_

**Reviews: **

**AngelicDevil101: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking it so far. And, yes, I will be updating "The New Kid", I've just hit a rough patch and having trouble with the next chapter. I'll finish it ASAP, though!

**Diana 1997: **Thanks for the kind words! They mean a lot!

I woke up to the blaring of my alarm clock the next morning, as per usual. I groaned and reached out to hit it to make it shut up before I remembered that I wasn't in Cali anymore. And, when I remembered Iggy and Fang, I realized for the first time in, well, _ever_ I was kind of excited to go to school.

I jumped out of bed and hopped in the shower, before drying off and dressing in jeans and a T-shirt one of our family friends had gotten when she visited New York once; It was the normal I Love NY shirt that a lot of people had, but instead of the heart, there was the Rolling Stones logo. I didn't know much of their music, but the shirt was cool. It only came down to about half-way down my stomach, so I always wore one of my white camis under it.

I let Ella put make-up on me again, but she seemed to go faster this time because when she was done we still had time to walk to school and not be late.

"Bye, mom!" I called as I walked out the door with Leia following behind me. We walked and talked, well, Ella talked. I listened and occasionally butted in. However, as she was talking, I saw a familiar looking blonde head in front of me, walking next to a somewhat shorter blonde head. Iggy. And the shorter one must be Gazzy, I decided. I shushed Ella and decided it would be a good time to sneak up on Iggy.

I jogged quietly up behind them and just as I was about to jump at Iggy and yell, he turned around with a smirk on his face and grabbed my waist, tickling me mercilessly.

"A-aah!" I yelled while laughing. "St-op! Y-ou... bast-stard!"

"Say please," Iggy said in a sing-songy voice.

"Damn i-it!" I yelled. "Pl-pleease!" Now, normally I would never stoop to something like that, but Iggy had found my one true weakness; I was insanely ticklish. Damn him.

Iggy just smiled at me.

"I hope you know this means war," I told him, giving him my best glare. It bounced off of him. He was blind. Duh. Wow, this was going to suck.

"Fine. But, just know, I always win," he said with a smirk on his face. "Oh," he said suddenly. "This is Gazzy," he said, gesturing to the little blonde kid. He had bright blue eyes and blonde curly hair. "And this, is Max."

"Hi, Gazzy," I said, waving at the little blonde. He smiled and waved back at me.

Iggy cocked his head to the side for a moment, then said, "Oh, and Gazzy, that's Ella." He gestured over to Ella with almost perfect accuracy.

"What?!" I demanded. "How could you possibly know that?" I felt like stamping my foot childishly, but refrained and patted myself on the back for my wonderful self-control.

"Well, I could tell someone was standing there because I could hear them breathing, so that's how I knew where she was. And I heard you two talking while you were behind us and recognized her voice," he said simply.

"So, you have like super hearing? Not fair, dude," I grumbled, then winced, realizing how bad it was to tell a guy who couldn't freakin' see that his ability to locate things wasn't fair. He just laughed it off though.

We walked together for awhile longer, joking around. "Hey," I said to get Iggy's attention when we made a turn I didn't think we should have. "The school's not this way."

"I know," Iggy said. "But, I have to drop Gazzy off at the middle school." That made sense, I supposed, Gazzy was obviously younger than Iggy, Ella, and I, but after a second or two, I couldn't help but see something wrong with that; wasn't it dangerous for Iggy to be walking around without someone to tell him if, oh, I don't know, a car was coming?! I didn't say anything because I didn't want to embarrass or offend him. I'm sure there was some good reason that he could walk to school on his own that I just didn't know about or didn't see.

However, my fears were assuaged when we walked past the middle school to the elementary school (which were practically touching) and found Fang standing there waiting. That was a bit of a relief. Still, what if Fang was sick? Or late? I couldn't help but think it was really irresponsible of Ig's parents to let him walk. Not that he shouldn't be allowed to do things on his own, just that there should be more fool-proof ways of doing it.

We did make it to school, however, with about 10 minutes to spare before we had to go to class. Ella ran off with her friend Nudge. We talked until the warning bell went off, then went our separate ways.

Class was boring, not that I really expected otherwise. But, I was really glad I sat next to Iggy. Because, as stupid and silly as that boy could act, damn he was smart! Or maybe I was just stupid. I don't know, but either way, he understood Chemistry and I didn't.

"It makes no sense!" I announced for at least the tenth time while we were working on a problem. Iggy sighed.

"Yes, it does," he said. "See, you have to make sure both sides of the equation have the same number of each element."

"Why?!" I demanded. "This is stupid. Why do they have to be even." Iggy gave me a look before speaking as patiently as he could.

"Because matter can't be created or destroyed; if you have 3 Hydrogen atoms on this side, they can't just disappear; there have to be 3 Hydrogens over here as well."

"So, can I just stick a 3 in front of the "H" and be done with it?" I asked.

"No, because it becomes H2O on this side, so putting a 3 makes it 6 Hydrogen and 3 Oxygen; So, you have to go the other side and put enough coefficients that you have 3 Oxygens and 6 Hydrogens."

I sighed and put my head on my desk. "I give up. Chemistry sucks." Iggy just laughed and told me to write the damn numbers on his paper for him if I wasn't going to help.

Gym. Oh, the dreaded gym. Actually, I wasn't really dreading it that much. I enjoyed being able to get some of my excess energy out and do something physical. The thing to dread was the people. An all girls class where you stand in a smelly room for the beginning and end and have to change clothes. It's not like I'm overly modest. I wouldn't mind it at all actually, except for the fact that, excuse my french, girls are bitches. All most girls talk about was boys and makeup and gossip about other girls.

And it seemed to be worse inside a locker room. Oh my god, the whining! I was ready to hit half of them by the time I was finished changing and had stepped out into the gym. Only to find that I was the only person finished changing. I rolled my eyes. Seriously? It should not take that long to put on a pair of shorts and T-shirt. And maybe pull your hair into a ponytail. Five minutes, tops.

Coach Minnis, a young, pretty lady with brown hair and a slim yet toned body, walked over to the locker rooms and yelled inside. "Hurry up, ladies!" I liked her pretty well actually. She was one of my favorite teachers this year.

The rest of the class eventually filed out of the locker rooms.

"We're going out to fields today!" Coach announced. "I want everyone to start out by running 3 laps around the soccer fields, then line up on the sidelines." Everyone groaned. We all jogged out to soccer fields and ran for a good 10 minutes before the majority of the girls finished.

We were then separated into teams and assigned positions, before playing soccer for the majority of class. And, damn, I was doing pretty good compared to the rest of the girls and enjoying kicking the ball around.

About ten minutes before the bell, Coach blew her whistle and told us to go change back, but pulled me aside. "Max," she said. "Did you play back in California?"

"No," I answered. "I mean, I did some when I little, but I've never really pursued any sport."

She nodded. "Soccer try-outs are tomorrow after school," she said. "I think you should try out. You've got a lot of talent."

I smiled brightly, ecstatic at the thought. It had never really occurred to me to try out for a sport, but I was suddenly really excited about the opportunity.

"Thanks Coach!" I said, and jogged back to the building to change back into my normal clothes.

"So, apparently Coach Minnis thinks I'm good enough to try-out for the team," I all but squealed to Iggy and Fang today at lunch. Fang rolled his eyes and Iggy smirked. I pouted at both of them. "Seriously? You should be happy for me," I told them, before reaching across the table and stealing a handful of fries from Fang.

"We are happy," Iggy said, still with goddamned smirk. "It was the high pitched squealing we weren't happy about."

"I don't squeal!" I protested

"See, there it was again," Fang said.

I threw some of the fries I'd stolen at him. He blinked.

"Did you seriously just throw my own fries at me? That's low Max."

"Downright evil," Iggy agreed, nodding sagely.

"Jerks," I mumbled. Iggy beamed.

"Damn straight!"

"Oh, by the way, Max, I like your shirt," Fang said, gesturing to it. "The Stones are awesome."

"You're wearing a Rolling Stones shirt?" Iggy said, sounding unreasonably happy about that.

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Someone bought it for me when they were in New York."

"Oh, your not as hopeless music-wise as I'd thought. What's your favorite song of theirs."

"Oh I don't really know any of their music-"

"What?!" Iggy said, looking scandalized. "You don't know their music, but you're wearing their shirt? That's just wrong. I mean come on, you have to know 'Paint it Black' or 'Sympathy for the Devil.'"

I shook my head, before remembering he couldn't see that. "Nope."

"Come on, 'I see a red door and I want it painted blaaccck,'" he sung, trying to get me to recognize it.

"Sorry," I said, not really feeling sorry at all. He scowled at me.

"This weekend, I'm introducing you to good music," he told me.

"Fine," I told him.

The day passed rather slowly. I sat next to Iggy or Fang when they were in my classes, but for the most part I was just bored. Finally, when the day was over, I jumped up from my seat in English and leaned back, popping my back. Iggy stood up from where he was sitting next to me and we started heading home. Fang walked with us. I started to go towards the middle school, wandering if Iggy needed to pick up his brother.

"Nah, he walks home with a group of friends," Iggy said. "Unless Fang is absent. But we do need to get Angel."

"Who's Angel?" I asked.

"My sister," said Fang. "She's in kindergarten."

"So, all the schools here get out at the same time?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird," Iggy said. "But there's a lot of older siblings that are responsible for the younger ones in our town, so the city tries to accommodate that, I guess. Or, well, that's why I think they do it that way. I'm really not positive to be honest."

I nodded, accepting his explanation. We got to the elementary school and Iggy and I waited while Fang and went and talked to a teacher to sign Angel out. It seemed that this was a pretty regular thing though, because the teacher recognized Fang and sent Angel with him with little hassel.

And, oh my god, Angel might have literally been the most adorable child on the planet. Every one of my maternal instincts kicked in when I saw her and I just wanted to hold her and swaddle her in a blanket and feed her juice and crackers. She made _me, _the tough soon-to-be soccer playing Maximum Ride feel like that. Goddamn she's dangerous.

We walked the rest of the way home and managed without me wanting to kidnap the adorable Angel and replace Ella with her (who had walked home with Nudge, by the way.)

"Do you guys want to come in?" I asked as we came to my house. Iggy lived right next door and Fang across the street.

"Nah, I, uh, have to get home," Iggy said, before walking over to his house. Fang declined also and I figured I would have a nice afternoon to myself, then.

**Please Review guys! :D They make me write faster! :D (I know that I was ridiculously slow to get this chapter out... sorry guys.)**


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